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Wednesday, March 5, 2008

To be fair, I’ve never been to Greenwich, Connecticut. I always thought it was kind of, well, waspy and horrible and why should I travel for such an experience when it’s available on the Upper East Side? Where I could at least pop into ...

The School District Teamster's Unionized Custodial Workers Are Saying That The Hamilton Avenue Classrooms Started Leaking Within Months Of Their Arrival.

The custodial staff is saying the classrooms were under some kind of warranty and could have been replaced at no additional cost to the taxpayers of the Town Of Greenwich.

The teamster members are also saying that they are afraid for their health as well as the health of the staff and children of Hamilton Avenue School.

Worse yet, the teamsters are saying they think the classrooms were evacuated and closed with in a day, because of formaldehyde. The union members speculate that the water reacted with the plywood glue in the walls and started emitting formaldehyde gas.

The custodial staff says that standard operating procedure for treating mold on walls has always been wash the walls with bleach, but they were ordered not to wash the walls with bleach.

Instead they were ordered to strip the walls of all plywood in day and to throw the plywood in a dumpster that was immediately carted away.

The Teamsters and School Officials have both said the classrooms or the plywood was never tested for Formaldehyde gas.

What was the rush?

Why was the plywood destroyed in less than 3 days?

What this a rush to destroy evidence?

Are the Teamster members going to suffer adverse health consequences for handling these contaminated pieces of plywood?

Have Hamilton Avenue School Children been breathing formaldehyde gas all along?

Can Hamilton Avenue parents trust the Board Of Education to protect their children?

Greenwich School Administrators had better come clean before they end up getting thier butts sued by angry parents and taxpayer

MOST EVERYONE HAS HEARD OF THE

FEMA TRAILER

FORMALEHYDE EXPOSURES

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided travel trailers and mobile homes starting in 2006 for habitation by Gulf Coast residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Some of the people who moved into the trailers complained of breathing difficulties, nosebleeds and persistent headaches. Formaldehyde exposure can cause burning eyes and/or nose, coughing, difficulty breathing, headaches, and has been shown to be carcinogenic, causing nasal and nasopharyngeal cancer, and possibly leukemia as well.[13] Formaldehyde-catalyzed resins are used in the manufacture of engineered wood products such as particle board, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), plywood, and oriented-strand board (OSB), all of which have applications in site-built, and especially mobile homes and travel trailers.

The United States Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) performed indoor air quality testing for formaldehyde [14] in some of the units. On Thursday, February 14, 2008 the CDC announced that potentially hazardous levels of formaldehyde were found in many of the travel trailers and mobile homes provided by the agency.[15][16] The CDC's preliminary evaluation of a scientifically established random sample of 519 travel trailers and mobile homes tested between Dec. 21, 2007 and Jan. 23, 2008 (2+ years after manufacture) showed average levels of formaldehyde in all units of about 77 parts per billion (ppb). Long-term exposure to levels in this range can be linked to an increased risk of cancer, and as levels rise above this range, there can also be a risk of respiratory illness. These levels are higher than expected in indoor air, where levels are commonly in the range of 10-20 ppb, and are higher than the Agency for Toxic Substance Disease Registry (ATSDR, division of the CDC) Minimal Risk Level (MRL) of 8 ppb [17]. Levels measured ranged from 3 ppb to 590 ppb.[18]

Although formaldehyde is a gas at room temperature, it is readily soluble in water. It is usually sold as a saturated aqueous solution with concentration of around 37% formaldehyde, stabilized with 10%-15% methanol. The commercial name is either Formalin or Formol. In water, formaldehyde converts to mostly the hydrate CH2(OH)2 or methanediol. A small percentage of methanol is usually added to these solutions to limit the extent of polymerization.

It Is EASY To Test For Formaldehyde...

The reagent chromotropic acid can be used in the quantitative determination of the presence of formaldehyde.

....That is if the Greenwich School Administrators had kept the contaminated plywood from the Hamilton Avenue School classrooms.

After the sudden closing of Hamilton Avenue School after the discovery of mold throughout temporary classrooms, Mina Bibeault wondered if the Board of Education missed a chance to tackle the contamination with routine maintenance.Bibeault, who has two children at the school, said there had been complaints earlier in the year about water leaking into the building, well before the investigation of a roof leak in a fifth-grade classroom last week found the mold problem....

... "This is about me getting a call on Saturday that my children will not be able to go to school on Monday," said Hector Ruiz, a former co-president of the school's PTA.

Exposure to toxic allergens produced by mold can trigger respiratory and sinus infections, skin irritation, and more severe respiratory conditions in the young and those with weakened immune systems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Whether and how soon the modulars on the campus of Western Middle School could be opened again depends on a variety of factors, a town health official and building professionals said.

Mold, which is a fungus, grows faster in warmer temperatures, but also spreads if moisture, oxygen and organic matters are available, they said.

The extent of the mold growth in the school is still unknown, but condensation found within the walls and roof areas of the building this weekend raise serious health questions, said Michael Long, director of Greenwich Department of Health's environmental services division....

By Neil VigdorGreenwich Time - Staff WriterNearly half of the homeowners who received sewer hookups in North Mianus have signed onto a planned lawsuit against the town, challenging the $23.5 million bill for the project. Last night about 50 more homeowners joined the effort at a heavily attended meeting to discuss strategy at Greenwich Civic Center in Old Greenwich last night...

With less than a week remaining to file their suit, 370 of the estimated 790 property owners who received sewer hookups as part of the oft-criticized project have joined the fight, contributing $200 apiece for anticipated legal expenses, organizers of the effort said. The homeowners accused the town of wasting more than $7 million on the project....

..."It's strictly because the administration of the town could not get their act together," said Peter Sherr, who represents the neighborhood in the Representative Town Meeting and lives in Riverside Acres....

....The homeowners have until March 12 to appeal the apportionment in state Superior Court. To be part of the lawsuit, Romeo said each household must contribute $200 by March 9. Members of the group said they hope the prospect of protracted litigation holding up the payments will cause the town to settle the matter. "Just by filing, the town knows we're serious and they have to decide whether they want to play hardball," said Vin DeFina, a lawyer who lives in the neighborhood and is helping organize the effort.

Our failed school board should dissolve itself, now.Is Board member Michael Bodson, Who Serves As A Liaison On Town Facilities Committees, Part Of The Solution Or Part Of The Problem?

Wimpy Board Member Michael Bodson Says. "We're not going to simply point fingers."

Bodson, who serves as a liaison on town facilities committees, wants an expensive investigation and study of what led to the mold problem,

Now after Hamilton Avenue School Children are sent to six different buildings Bodson wants to study how the mold filled trailer was acquired three years ago.

Now that parents are in the streets protesting in front of the Board Of Education Offices Bodson wants to study how maintenance was performed by the district. The board is hiring its own consultant to investigate if there was gross negligence by the district by ignoring maintenance. If the mold problems could have been prevented by the district.

Maybe, The board should hire a second consultant to investigate if Michael Bodson, who serves as a liaison on town facilities committees, was grossly negligent by by ignoring maintenance.

Virtually everyone in Greenwich is wondering if Board member Michael Bodson, who serves as a liaison on town facilities committees, was a sleep at the switch and the mold problems could have been prevented by the district.

Please call, fax or write to the clueless Bodson and tell him what you think of his expensive study and what you think should be done about

Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg and those high paid school administrators that have failed the children of Greenwich.

Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg realizes her job could be in jeopardy if the Board of Education decides she did not do enough to prevent the mold problems at the temporary buildings that house the Hamilton Avenue School.......The Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich opened early yesterday to take in children of parents who were caught off-guard by the closure and did not have child care. The programs, which are to continue through the week, are recreational and do not include academics. Sternberg said that tutoring is not being offered this week for the students because of the lack of time to set it up....... Hamilton Avenue parents are upset that their lives and their children's lives are in disarray, said Dawn Nethercott, school PTA co-president.

"We definitely want accountability. I want to know where the system failed," Nethercott said. Sternberg said that she also would not be surprised if upset school parents filed a lawsuit over the closure....

Ineffective School Board Members Like Michael Bodson Waste Time Ordering Expensive And Needless Studies Instead Of Taking Decisive Action That Will Protect Our Children.

The Parents Of Hamilton Avenue School Don't Want Long Drawn Out "Cover My Ass" School Board Studies. They want School Board Member Bodson, who serves as a liaison on town facilities committees to take strong and decisive action.

The Taxpayers Of Greenwich Hate Useless And Bogus Consultants And Studies like this one....

By The Way...Why this March 5, 2008 Board Of Education Meeting Cancelled?

BOE Policy Governance Committee MeetingThis meeting has been CANCELLEDIt was supposed to be held 1:00 PM in theBoard Room at the Havemeyer Building.Right now the Board Of Education should be talking about policy and governance. The policy should be to get rid of failed school administrators.Governance should consist of Board Members need to "Poop Or Get Off The Pot". School Board Members like Bodson, who serves as a liaison on town facilities committees should step aside and let someone fix the maintenance problems that plague our schools.

By Hoa NguyenGreenwich Time - Staff WriterA year of legal wrangling between the parents of a honeymooner who vanished from a Mediterranean cruise and his widow culminated in a probate hearing that began yesterday at Town Hall. The parents of George A. Smith IV are fighting a $1 million-plus settlement that his widow, Jennifer Hagel Smith, reached with Royal Caribbean International following his disappearance from a cruise ship on July 5, 2005.

Maureen and George A. Smith III want the estate to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the cruise operator.

The hearing, which is expected to continue today, will include as witnesses, Hagel Smith, mother Maureen Smith, three Miami-based maritime lawyers and a Cheshire economist best known for his work helping Sept. 11, 2001, families determine the economic damages they incurred as a result of the terrorist attacks....

"I can say there have been some threats made to him in the prisoner van and while he has been in the holding cell in Bridgeport Correctional," Ehring said.

Story:

After previous threats from fellow prisoners during trips to court, a judge has granted a request by Alan Golder, the suspect accused of being the stealthy "Dinnertime Bandit" jewelry burglar, to be brought to hearings by himself. Since his arrest by Greenwich police in December, other prisoners have threatened Golder, 53, public defender Howard Ehring, Golder's attorney said yesterday....

... Ehring said he expected some discussion in a court hearing today on Golder's requests to have charges and evidence thrown out based on his questioning the validity of testimony of a burglary victim who identified Golder as the masked man who confronted her in her home. Golder also argues authorities illegally extradited him from Europe, and that federal authorities reneged on a promise to put him in a witness protection program to shield him from vengeful organized crime figures due to his 1980 testimony about a Manhattan jewelry fencing ring. Golder is being held at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Facility in Suffield on $3 million bond and is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford today. Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Valdes, the prosecutor in the case, declined comment on the case.